6. Worship is done in spirit and truth   (John 4:21-24)

Question: What do you think it means to worship in Spirit?

  In Spirit
       John Piper says that if people are spiritually asleep you have to shock them, startle them, scandalize them, if you want them to hear what you say. Jesus was especially good at this. When he wants to teach us something about worship he uses a whore. "Go call your husband!" "I don't have a husband." "That's right. But you've had five, and the man you sleep with now is not your husband." She was shocked. We're shocked. But Jesus simply sits there on the edge of the well with his hands folded, looking at the woman with razors in his eyes ready to teach us about worship.7

       Jesus was talking to a woman who was lonely and miserable after 5 failed marriages. She obviously tried to find satisfaction in life in marriage, but it didn't work. She was thirsting for something and had probably reached the place where she thought she would never find it so she decided just to live with the man she was with. She didn't even bother to get married.
 Jesus, read her lonely heart and offered her a new way to live...a new life. He spoke to her heart, or the human spirit as is often compared in Scripture.

      We talk about doing things with our whole heart. By this we mean that our spirit is fully engaged. We are doing it wholeheartedly.

      The apostle Paul in Romans 12:11 urges us to be "fervent in spirit." This means we are to have an attitude of zeal. To worship God in spirit is to do so with the right attitude or from the heart.

     To worship In Spirit means to do it wholeheartedly, passionately with all that  we have. It  is to be genuine and heartfelt. We must mean it deeply and feel it deeply. We must be fully committed to what we are doing as an expression of what we actually feel. In spirit will  necessitate involving the emotions. But more on that later.

     When Jesus says in v. 23, "True worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth," some take him to mean "in the Holy Spirit." I've taken him to mean that worship must come from your spirit within instead of being merely formal and external. But in John 3:6 Jesus connects God's Spirit and our spirit in a remarkable way.

Read: John 3:6

     He says, "That which is born of the Spirit is spirit." In other words, until the Holy Spirit touches our spirit with the flame of life our spirit is so dead it does not even qualify as spirit. Only that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

     So when Jesus says that true worshipers worship in spirit he must mean that true worship only comes from spirits that are made alive and sensitive and vital by the touch of the Holy Spirit.8

  In Truth

Question: What do you think it means to worship in truth?

       The answer to that question is revealed in the prayer of Jesus in
           -John 17:17, "Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth."
          -Psalms 119:142 wrote, "Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and thy law is the truth."

      So when we speak of the objective truth, the truth of the Bible, we speak of God's Word or His law. In order for our worship of God to be in truth, it must be in harmony with His Holy Word.

   Worshipping in truth also means we must worship with our 'knowing' faculties; scholars use the word epistemology which is the science of knowing or knowledge. The idea here is that when we worship it must be with the mind as well as with the heart. 9

Question: What do you know about the left-brain and right-brain functions?

      Left brain is the cognitive-rational-intellectual part of the brain that receives knowledge and communication primarily through words read, spoken or heard.10

Question: In which elements of the worship service do you think left brain knowledge is gained?

  This is seen in the Scripture readings, prayers, sermon, hymns and choruses.

    Right brain is the affective-intuitive-emotional part that knows and responds through symbols, especially the aesthetic.11

Question: In which elements of the worship service do you think right brain knowledge is gained?

      This is seen in sensory experiences of many kinds such as  instrumental music, visuals like banners, crosses, architecture, furniture, and physical posture and gestures.

      We should not minimize the contribution of the right-brain in knowing and worshipping God. Both right and left-brain activity are important in understanding God and responding to Him.

Examples:

    Music added to text (the Swedish folk melody added to the words of How Great thou Art) not only gives the congregation means to pronounce the words in unison but it can add powerful emotion to underline the cognitive meaning of the words.

     When a Believer experiences baptism, the feeling of the water adds meaning to hearing the words 'I baptize you in the name of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.

    In the Lord's Supper right brain-left brain knowing is essential: the words take eat and drink must be followed with these actions or the words are devoid of their full meaning.12

Quotes: Martin Luther: They who sing pray twice, that is they pray with the mind, through words, and with the emotions, music. This means more than understanding the words and feeling the emotions associated with them and with all aspects of the music. Worship in Spirit and Truth is saying a spiritual amen to the words, sensing God's presence as reality and joyfully making melody to the Lord in their hearts. this is worshipping God in both cognitive and emotive truth.

 We will look closer at the affective/visual/physical aspects of worship later.

    D. The purposes of Worship
Question: What do you think are the reasons we come together for worship?

 1. To bring glory to the name of God
      -Seen in the words used for worship in Scripture.
      -Isa. 42:8; (Ps. 29:1-2, Ps. 105:1-5; Ps. 108:1-5)
 2. To edify the body
      -1 Cor. 14 8 times the word to edify is used
      -Edification means building up.
 3. To build fellowship and communion among the body
      -The Psalms make it clear that part of why we worship is to unite the body.
        Ps. 95:6f
      -The NT also make this clear. Heb. 10:22-25; (Acts 2:42-47); Eph.. 4:2-6
 4. To serve God
      -In the work of the ministry (Eph. 4:7-16)
      -With our lives (Rom. 12:1-2)
      -By serving others (James 1:27)

    E. Acceptable Worship13
     1. Hebrews 12:28-29
         The subject of this text is 'Let us be thankful'.

Question: Thankful for what?

      Thankful that we have received a kingdom that can not be shaken. The writer of Hebrews then says that  the words and actions that flow from our heart of gratitude is the worship that pleases God. The word for worship here is Latrueo  which means religious service. Gratitude in worship/service shows that the grace of God has been understood and appreciated.

Question: How is this worship to be done?

      a. Reverence shows the value and worth of God, it is modest, bashful
      b. Fear shows the judgment of God. It is caution, discretion.

 2. Rom. 14:18
         Worship that is acceptable keeps others in the body in mind when they worship
      a. The weaker brother must not be judged for what he believes is sinful.
      b. The stronger brother must not judged for what he believes is lawful.
      c. All must be accepted
      d. We must not be a stumbling block to others.
      e. The idea here is to nurture the weaker brother till he/she has understanding.

         Acceptable worship is how we treat our fellow Christians. Probably never thought of that before. It is part of the edification purpose of worship.

    3. Rom. 15:16
         The language of sacrifice/worship is used here. Winning someone to JC is acceptable worship. The converts then are an offering to God and that is acceptable worship.

     4. Phil. 4:18
         Paul wrote this letter in part to thank them for a gift of money. Again, sacrifice/worship language. The offering of money to meet the needs of the saints is acceptable worship.

NOTE: Worship in all three areas is SHARING: sharing your love, the Gospel, your  resources. This glorifies God because it puts Him on display in your life. It shows you love what He loves.

     5. Eph. 5:10, 1 Tim. 2:3
         Worship that is acceptable is displayed in anything that is done that is good, righteous and true. (Personal holiness is acceptable worship)  Worship is how you live your life.

     6. Heb. 13:15-16
         Worship that is acceptable continually offers up praise. It is thanking God continually, with our lips, through word and song.  It is to praise, extol, to sing praises in honor to God.

         Worship that is acceptable is coming each Sunday to corporately offer praise and  thanksgiving to God. But, we can not do that at the expense of or by forgetting to do good and to share with others. (vs 16) Because God is pleased with that.

    F. Unacceptable Worship14
         Here is a description of God's reaction to a worship service held many, many years ago.

Read: Isa. 1:12-17

     God sees worship differently than we do because He reads our hearts. Worship is not only something we do, but it is who we are, what our heart is feeling.

     1. Worship of false gods
          a. Commandment #1 'No other gods' (Ex. 20:1-3)
              -Our worship ,our deepest devotion, our most passionate love is to be directed toward God not  to ourselves.
              -Whenever we worship anything or anyone else our worship is unacceptable.
 

     2. Worship of the true God in the wrong way.
          a. Commandment #2 'No graven images' (Ex. 20:3-6)
              -We are not to use images or idols in our worship
               -Ex. 32 will reveal that the people fashioned an idol to represent the One TrueGod.
                It was not that they were worshipping some other God, they were worshipping Jehovah God in an unacceptable
                way. By reducing God to an idol or representation.